An old fashioned baked bean recipe made with dried beans, molasses, brown sugar and patience. Classic baked beans cooked low and slow in a bean pot just like grandma (or everyone's favourite pioneer mother Caroline Ingalls) used to make.
I started bringing a pot of good old fashioned baked beans to Easter dinner a few years ago and I enjoy the holiday much more now.
I have two criteria for judging holidays - how good is the food and how good is the decorating? Easter is filled with ham and pastel colours therefore I judge it harshly.
Sneaking baked beans into the menu makes perfect sense. When paired with ham they create a bundle of sweet, savoury, smoky goodness in your mouth. Plus you get to cleanse your palate during dinner with the ever popular "salad" made out of marshmallows and canned fruit.
My Marshmallow Salad recipe is here if you're interested, because yes, I am a sucker for it.
These baked beans also go perfectly with any meats you pull off of your summertime grill or smoker. And as a quick autumn or cool spring day lunch to fill yourself up, beans on toast is fantastic!
Filling, nutritious and - O.K. I know you're ALL thinking of the tooting. So go ahead and giggle about the toots so we can continue with this serious baked bean discussion.
Alright.
These are traditional baked beans done in the oven in a bean pot with molasses and brown sugar and yes they take two days to make. BUT you can make them in an Instant Pot much faster and in a pinch if you have to. I'm not a fan of the Instant Pot but I know I'm in the minority with that.
I've included instructions for Instant Pot baked beans as well in the recipe card. Even though you're not allowed to call them baked because they're Instant Potted. Not baked.
Table of Contents
Baked Beans From Scratch
Delicious, smoky and filling these can be made ahead warmed up prior to serving. You'll need a 1 lb package of dried beans, molasses, water, brown sugar and a few other pantry staples.
Reducing the gas
If you're worried about the impending flatulence caused by eating beans you can do two things to help reduce gas.
- Throw away the water you soak your beans in.
- Change the soaking water and rinse the beans every 3 hours.
There's evidence that throwing away the bean soaking water will eliminate much of the indigestible carbohydrates that cause gas.
HOWEVER after soaking my beans I use the same bean water later in the recipe because I like the added flavour using the bean water gives. If you want to reduce the potential for toots, do not reuse the bean water.
What kind of beans are baked beans?
White Pea Beans (Navy beans) are traditionally used for making baked beans because they're creamy once cooked. Navy beans have the highest amount of fibre of all the dried beans.
Great Northern Beans can also be used for baked beans. They are less creamy but hold their shape better than navy beans. Because they're bigger they take a bit longer to cook until tender. If you prefer a creamier texture but only have Northern Beans, after cooking remove about ½ cup of the beans, mash them then stir them back into the pot.
The ingredients for this recipe are classic baked bean ingredients. Nothing super fancy and no heat. To me, baked beans shouldn't be spicy. But if you like spicy baked beans you can add a couple of finely diced jalapeño peppers or cayenne pepper.
These beans technically take 2 days to make and that seems like a long time but 95% of that time is dedicated to slow cooking. You aren't actively doing anything other than smelling the scent of baked beans waft throughout the kitchen. You soak the beans, mix the ingredients together and then pop the beans in the oven for 8 hours or so.
If you love old timey things like this, you can buy a brand new old fashioned bean pot here.
When they're cooked, the beans come out and they're ready to serve. Just like that. So it seems like a big ordeal, but it really isn't. It just takes a long time.
As an aside, I am absolutely STUNNED at the amount of Baked Bean recipes on the Internet that are made with ... CANS of baked beans. What the??? As I mentioned, this recipe is made with dried beans. Not a can of them. This is a recipe for actual baked beans from scratch.
For your tooting pleasure.
Old Fashioned Baked Beans
Ingredients
- 454 grams dry beans white pea (navy) beans
- water enough to cover beans
- 1 onion diced
- ½ tablespoon salt
- 2 tsps cider vinegar
- ¼ lb bacon or salt pork
- 1 teaspoon mustard
- 2 tablespoon brown sugar
- ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika
- ¼ cup molasses
- ½ cup ketchup
- pinch black pepper
Instructions
- Soak the beans overnight in water.
- The next morning heat the beans to boiling and simmer for around 30 minutes. If the skin of the bean peels back when you blow on it the beans are done.
- Drain the beans and SAVE the bean water.
- Mix all of the sauce ingredients together and mix in the cooked beans. Put everything in a bean pot.
- Add enough of the reserved bean water to the bean pot to cover the beans by ½".
- Add bacon or salt pork to top of beans, cover and bake at 250 F for 7 hours.
- Remove lid and continue to cook uncovered for 2 hours to help the beans develop a dark brown colour.
- Serve with grilled meats as a side dish or on toast for a lunch.
- Remove from oven and remove bacon or salt pork. If you like your beans with some meat chop it up and mix it into the beans. I prefer to remove the pork entirely and just use it for the flavour and smokiness it infuses in the beans while cooking.
Notes
- To eliminate the overnight soak, you can boil the beans for longer during their initial cook in water. Instead of simmering for 30 minutes, simmer for (apx) 90 minutes.
- If you're vegan or vegetarian and want to eliminate the bacon then double the amount of smoked paprika from ¼ teaspoon to ½ tsp.
- TO COOK BAKED BEANS IN THE INSTANT POT (bleh) 1. Add your dried beans to the Instant Pot with enough water to cover them quite well. Cook on high for 25 minutes. They might be perfectly done or they might be overdone and mushy. It depends on the bean. And that's why I don't like the Instant Pot. 2. Drain the beans and return them to the Instant Pot. Add all of the other ingredients and cook on high for 10 minutes.
Nutrition
If you don't have a bean baking pot, just use any oven safe casserole with a lid like a dutch oven. Keep your eyes open at antique shops and flea markets for vintage crocks. Just check the inside to make sure it's still in good shape inside with the glaze intact and no crazing.
You bet you can. I freeze them in individual portions and they reheat perfectly.
Well, beans are very nutritious and healthy! But baked beans contain a lot of molasses and sugar which isn't ideal. Still, they aren't terrible. A large serving of these baked beans contains 17 grams of sugar. A small piece of yellow cake with chocolate icing has 56 grams of sugar.
As long as you eat a reasonable amount of baked beans and not an entire pot (and you don't have diabetes) then they're a perfectly healthyish side dish.
Yes, there are a few things you can sub in for molasses if you don't have any:
To replace 1 cup of molasses use one of the following:
¾ cup of firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup dark corn syrup
1 cup of honey
1 cup of maple syrup
Brown sugar is the best substitute in terms of flavour because brown sugar is actually a mixture of white sugar and molasses.
Baked beans for Easter dinner. Is that weird? Or just risky? ;)
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Suzannelh
You have to tell us why you don’t like ham. It’s one of my 3 favorite foods. Unfortunately, cannot eat right now due to restricted salt diet, it’s KILLIN me.
Lauren from Winnipeg
Do you boil the ham first? My mother-in-law made the best ham and she taught me the “right” way to cook it. The most important thing - never, never, ever, use one of those “nuggets” masquerading as ham.
1. Buy a bone-in ham, preferably the butt end because it has more meat. Approx 6-7 lbs
2. Place in stock pot and cover with water. Bring to boil and then reduce to a very soft boil. Boil for one and a half hours.
3. Remove and place in oven-proof shallow pan and spread with glaze and bake in 300 oven until glaze is bubbly. Baste several times. Approx 30 min.
Glaze: 1 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp flour
1/2 tsp dry mustard
Moisten with white vinegar until spreadable.
My mother-in-law swore that boiling got rid of most of the salt and any other chemical nasties. It does produce the best tasting, tenderest ham.
Laurie
My Mom is from down East ( New Brunswick). Easter is always ham, scalloped potatoes, cole slaw, baked beans and brown bread, Yum!!
Karen
See? I've never been there but I've always felt like East Coasters are my people. :) ~ karen!
Cynthia
Karen ~ sounds delicious! I’ll come to your place for baked beans for Easter!!!
Jo Hill
Matters not when you have baked beans. We have a recipe similar to yours that is served at every holiday. It’s in honor of someone very special to us. Grandma Ruth. Yep, it does take a day to get them ready but oh so worth the wait. I’ve always loved giving the recipe along with an antique bean to a couple getting married. You should try sorghum instead of molasses next time.
Jo
Deb
Full disclosure: I am a product of the Deep South (almost the southernmost part of Alabama) and we like our beans smoky/sweet. My mother used to swear that adding pineapple to the bean recipe would reduce the resulting flatulence! Not sure it worked, but . . . delicious smoky/sweet beans!
Peter
You are of Danish decent and don't like ham? I'm worried about you.
Karen
It's true. I don't like pate or herring all that much either. ~ karen!
Cussot
I would have thought your Easter dinner would feature a ton of eggs. Of course, crispy fried eggs go very well with beans.
Now I have to go and look on the interwebs for those canned-bean recipes. That's totally bizarre!
Papelle
There is nothing better than the smell of beans baking slowly in the oven. If ‘they’ omade a “baked beans aroma” air spray, I’m sure realtors would buy it by the case to see their sales multiply.
Kate Budacki
I have to say that a couple shots of bourbon give this recipe a most delectable flavor. Maybe it’s just me but I do enjoy it. Right there with you on the whole Easter - pastel - marshmallow thing, Karen. As a child, I was hauled off to sunrise Easter services by my Minnesota Lutheran parents and I don’t think I’ve ever been quite the same. Makes for quite a long day, and then there is all that pastel stuff to eat with the ham. Way to spoil a holiday, folks.
Karen
"Way to spoil a holiday, folks" Agreed!! And the bourbon (or maybe Irish whiskey) is a great idea! ~ karen!
Lynn
I have never seen the salad that you mention, unless it had Jell-o in it as well? Maybe I have seen that one- it was more of a Baby Boomer's recipe than a white trash recipe, I think.
I have to have brown bread with my baked beans- that is a New England thing where I come from.
Mary W
PLEASE tell me more about the brown bread. I used to have it as a kid with beans but it came from a can (B & M, I think) but haven't seen the can in decades. I make my own bread so can you please tell me why it is called brown bread? I know it is moist and dark and absolutely delicious. Molasses? Whole wheat? Slightly sweet? why is it moist? HELP
Margaret K.
B&M brown bread is still available in a can. You can order it online if your neighborhood stores don't carry it. Lots of recipes for from-scratch brown bread on the Internet - just google New England brown bread. Several flours, always including corn meal. And molasses. I would skip the raisins, but that's your choice. It's called brown bread because the molasses makes it dark.
Mary W
Thank you so much! I'm with you on skipping the raisins. Corn meal is a surprise and I guess my problem trying to find the recipe is I thought it was just dark wheat bread and forgot about the brown part. Searching for New England brown bread is the key. Karen's commenters are the BEST.
MaryG
I am curious if you use black strap or sorghum molasses? I was born in Illinois (black strap)and grew up in Tennessee (sorghum). This is always an issue for me to decipher.
Karen
Well, I use Fancy Molasses. It's the highest grade of molasses in Canada. So I guess I don't use either blackstrap or sorghum, lol. ~ karen!
Suz
I have never made baked beans in the oven. I thought they *had* to be made in a slow cooker. Now I have to question everything I thought I knew!
Karen
Haha! Nope, baked beans have been around since people only had a campfire to cook on so they can definitely be made in something other than a slow cooker. Give it a shot! ~ karen
Lavada
Baked beans at Easter weird - not at all.
White Trash Salad (pastel marshmallows) - not at all.
I have both of these dishes year-round; White Trash Salad with standard white marshmallows.
Query, if you have a chance: How big is your bean crock? For instance, is there a number on the bottom?
I ask because mine is too small to accommodate a full bag of beans after their expansion and all.
Thanks much.
Karen
Eep. I don't know. I'd have to look. It's a standard sized bean pot to me. Like what I see at antique markets all the time. I'll try to check later today to see what the number is but it seems to me 1 bag would fit and I feel like I remember having done a whole bag in it. ~ karen!
Patty
Hi Karen,
I made Baked Beans with BBQ Ribs and scalloped potatoes for Christmas dinner. Everyone thought i was crazy for making what most of them considered summer grilling/picnic food for Christmas. It was delicious!. So Nope, I dont think it's weird to have baked beans for Easter Dinner. Yeah, what is with those recipes that start out with cans of baked beans!?!?
Karen
It's the weirdest thing! And a TON of online recipes all start with a can of baked beans. ???? ~ karen!
Julie Anne
Love baked beans. I’ll try your recipe, done in the oven. Not so keen on ham, but will eat a little. Accompany the scalloped potatoes with devilled eggs and cornbread. Any other vegetable than marshmallow salad.
Tina
My DIL texted me tonight about Easter egg hunt and then early dinner (there are toddler appetites to take into consideration). She asked me to bring brioche rolls and scalloped potatoes. Now I’m thinking I need to do baked beans, too! I always get a pork shank to throw in the pot and then dice the meat off and include it with the beans. Now my mouth is watering!
Karen
Yes, that's how a lot of people do it. With a pork hock or something like that. But pork almost sickens me so I stick with bacon. Which everyone knows isn't really pork, it's magic meat. ~ karen!
Shelagh
We always have lamb at Easter with scalloped potatoes and peas...sometimes a ham but not always...guess we are rebels!
Marshmallow salad...I have heard of it but I don't actually know anyone who makes it or ...shudder...eats it. And pastels? I'm totally with you there.
But Karen...Easter.....chocolate!
Baked beans ....nah, not weird ..... and way better than marshmallow salad.
Ann Marie
We don't eat much meat. My sons favourite food is beans. So it would be a gas! A hoot! Root n tooty fun! You get my drift. I really like adzuki beans and am forever trying to get them to taste how I had them from a Korean restaurant. I will give your recipe a try. Thanks.
Tara
To me-never. To hubs and the kids-definitely weird. If it was up to me, I’d be happy with a crock of baked beans as the star of almost any holiday meal, toots and all. I love baked beans that much.
MaryJo
Hi Karen,
Yeah, well at first I thought "yes, it's weird to have baked beans on Easter!" But then, when you mentioned ham, I thought "well of course, it makes total sense".
So I just may pull out my Mom's recipe that's about 60 years old (and which is remarkably similar to yours) and make it!
Thanks for the great suggestion.
Karen
See? It *kind* of makes sense, lol. ~ karen!
Ann Marie
It makes complete sense! Our traditional New England Easter dinner is Ham, Baked Beans (absolutely NEVER from a can), asparagus, and Grandmother's Potato Salad. My Aunt used to make the jello salad with carrots (no marshmallows) but no one has carried on the tradition since she passed.
You have the quintessential New England Baked Bean recipe right here and I'm thrilled to see you use the traditional bean pot. It truly makes a difference. Happy Easter!!